1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector provided with a magnetic element for removing noise and to a method for producing such connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Noise transmitted along an electric conductive path can be removed by passing a part of the electric conductive path through an annular magnetic element. A prior art connector that takes advantage of this known technique is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-325835. This prior connector is shown in FIG. 7, and is provided with a housing 1. A magnetic element 2 of ferrite is provided at the front surface of the housing 1, and terminal fittings 3 are arranged at the back of through holes 2A formed in the magnetic element 2. The magnetic element 2 has its outer surface covered by a resin coating 4. The terminal fittings 3 are connected with mating terminal fittings inserted into the housing 1 through the through holes 2A of the magnetic element 2. Thus electric conductive paths continuous with the connector penetrate through the magnetic element 2. Accordingly, the noise transmitted along the electric conductive paths is removed by the magnetic element 2.
Magnetic elements used for the above purpose generally are obtained by sintering a ferrite powder. These magnetic elements disadvantageously are likely to be cracked by a shock or the like. If a closed loop of the magnetic element 2 enclosing an electric conductive path L is made open by a crack S, as shown in FIG. 8, the noise removing function cannot be obtained. However, the outer surface of the magnetic element 2 is covered by the resin coating 4 in the connector disclosed in the above publication. Consequently, the crack S that opens the closed loop of the magnetic element 2 cannot be found. Therefore, the reliability of the noise removing function of the prior art connector is low.
The present invention was developed in view of the above problem and an object of the present invention is to provide a connector having a highly reliable noise removing function.